Not A Merry Christmas For Tesla In The Netherlands: Wahlman

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Whitney Tilson’s email to investors discussing your next car may let you drive hands-free. Is that a good thing?; debate on EV adoption; not a Merry Christmas for Tesla in the Netherlands.

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1) A recent article in the WSJ (full text below): Your Next Car May Let You Drive Hands-Free. Is That a Good Thing?

Debate On EV Adoption

2) Interesting tweet:

Tweet

A friend’s reply:

Actually that "point" misses the obvious and real point entirely: Sales of new and ICE cars in Norway are declining for the exact same reason they are declining in other places too -- Taxes and de-facto subsidies.

If you tax ICE vehicles 100% extra excise tax, plus VAT 25% on top of that, plus exempt BEVs from all sorts of (parking, ferry, carpool lane etc) fees, plus the annual vehicle registration tax, then obviously fewer people will buy ICEs -- new and old alike.

This is not a mystery.  The government said "Tax pizzas 125%, abolish all taxes on hamburgers."  Small wonder then, that people eat more hamburgers than pizzas.

Not A Merry Christmas For Tesla In The Netherlands

3) Anton Wahlman’s latest: Not A Merry Christmas For Tesla In The Netherlands. Excerpt:

  • In December 2019, Tesla sold a whopping 12,053 Model 3 units in the Netherlands. It was 13% of Tesla’s entire global automotive unit sales for the entire quarter.
  • This year, as of December 24, Tesla is on track for a 60% decline in the Netherlands. Mind you, that’s a 60% decline in absolute numbers.
  • Which is worse, the decline in absolute numbers or the loss of BEV market share? Tesla isn’t even leading the BEV sales charts in the Netherlands anymore.
  • New competitive models from Volkswagen and Volvo/Polestar have now matched or overtaken Tesla in short order. Hyundai too.
  • Tesla is increasing sales in China, but in places such as the Netherlands, it’s losing both market share and absolute numbers of unit sales. Competition in Europe is growing fast.